A Better Mood

Tonight I was in a better mood.

Having gotten home at a somewhat reasonable hour I started making Pot Stickers. From scratch. They turned out to be time consuming, but not terribly difficult to make and tasted, well, like pot stickers. My first batch lived way too much up to their name, falling completely apart while I tried to extricate them from the bottom of the pan. Denise pointed out that I was not arranging them correctly in the pan, to which I replied "Doh!" and, modifying the procedure slightly, cooked the remainder without incident.

I think I have been in a better mood for a couple reasons.

First, my order arrived from La Tienda, www.altienda.com, an online retailer of miscellaneous Spanish foods. I had gone online looking for a source for smoked paprika, something I frequently find specified in recipes, but never in a local market. The site turned out to be pretty entertaining so I ordered several items in addition to a 3-pack of sweet, bittersweet and picante smoked paprika. I resisted the temptation to order a $1400 Serrano ham, but did get some Spanish olives, chorizo and, I'm so excited, tinta de calamar.

So, sometime this weekend I plan to be preparing Squid Ink Risotto with Grilled Shrimp, Lobster and Green Onion Vinaigrette. I will probably have to follow that up with some paella to use up some of the spanish chorizo.

I was also in a good mood because Jacob was supposed to visit this weekend, planning to drive down on Friday night with a friend from San Diego. I was looking forward to seeing him, getting the scoop on school and cooking up whatever sort of food he might be missing. Unfortunately, midway through the pot stickers he texted Denise to say that he probably will not be coming after all. Apparently he realized that with the trip up and back he'd be spending at least 24 hours on the road for maybe 36 or so at home.

I'm disappointed, but can't say that I blame him.

Oh well, I will just have to cook for Leo instead. A slice of cheese, an ice cube, a doggie door. Whatever, he is easy to please.

Tuesday, September 22

My, how time flies...it's already been a week and a half or so since my last post.

I've actually been in something of a funk and not really able to think of anything worth writing about. I think I am frustrated because I have been getting virtually nothing accomplished lately. I wasn't able to get half the stuff done I'd hoped during the summer and now the boys are gone to school, so I don't have them to do things with. I have a laundry list of projects to do around the house; for every project I finish it seems like two more things break and need repair. And, with no offspring about the house now I'm having to take out the papers and the trash (or you don't get no spending cash), mow the lawn, etc. Whatever, it seems like by the time I navigate the commute home, relax for a minute or two, start cooking, get the food on the table and finish eating the evening has been shot.

Anyway the inability to get ahead on any of this stuff is making my cranky. I blame the heat. Or maybe the traffic. Or maybe Leo.

Speaking of which, you may recall that I wasted most of a weekend installing Leo's doggie door. Well, that lasted about two days before Leo decided to eat it. We came home and found a large chunk of the door frame broken off and chewed up in the middle of the yard. Now, fortunately for Leo I have no direct evidence that he was the perpetrator. That is because Guns, the Dane from next door, was spending the day in our yard. Tree trimmers were at work in his yard, so his parents thought it best that he and Leo have a play date in our yard. It is at least conceivable that Guns was responsible, so I am cutting Leo some slack on this one.

At least Leo started using the door. Monday evening, arriving back at home I found Leo comfortably reclining on our bed, having once again forced his way into the house.

Back to my projects, I still haven't started my first attempt at home brewing, reasoning that it's way too hot right now to ferment beer. I think it is recommend to store the stuff at about 70 degrees. Our temperatures have been a little north of a hundred this week and likely will be for a while. With our house having been built in the pre-energy-crisis 1970's it is not particularly energy efficient. I'd need the AC running 24/7 to keep the beer cool. So, I'll wait a couple more weeks in hopes that the temperature will drop to more tolerable levels.

I have been reasonably effective on at least one project: emptying beer bottles so that I will have someplace to store my home brew. I could have just bought a couple cases of empty bottles, but what sort of challenge is that?!

I've also been doing a lot of cooking and trying to use up all the produce from our garden, with varying degrees of success. Saturday morning I concocted a scramble of eggs with home grown red potatoes, cherry tomatoes and habanero peppers. Delicious I thought and even Denise seemed to like them although she is not keen on the habaneros. I think that they are tasty and at about 300,000 Scovilles, how can you miss? (Actually, I only added the cherry tomatoes for Denise...they are so sweet that I figured, correctly, that they'd cut most of the heat from the peppers.) Saturday night was a grilled beef tenderloin roast and grilled Yukon Gold Potato salad from a Bobby Flay recipe, delicious and really easy, and Sunday morning, to use up still more produce, I made multi-grain pumpkin waffles. I wish the boys were home to help us eat this stuff.

Tonight I decided to make a concerted effort to accomplish something at least arguably productive. I don't know that I was successful; watered the garden and potted plants, mowed both lawns, took Leo for a walk, provided some tech support for a neighbors laptop, brought out the silk-screening stuff to start planning some T-shirt production and emptied a couple more beer bottles...

About that time I started blogging, so all productivity stopped.

Sunday, September 13

Due to overwhelming demand (2 requests) I may have to keep updating this blog. The challenge that I have is that "Jake's Rehabilitation" doesn't really apply anymore. His rehab is pretty much over. I figured he was fully recovered as soon as he started ignoring us again. Sure, he still has a few procedures ahead, but the worst is definitely behind us.

So, what to do? I could simply keep going with a slight name change to this blog; "Jim and Denise's Rehabilitation" seems like it might be appropriate. We could certainly use some rehabilitation after spending the previous 21 years raising kids.

The nest is now truly empty; Nick left for Davis on Tuesday, planning to head up to Lake Shasta for a houseboating trip with his waterski team buddies. Little brat! I paid for a Shasta trip I couldn't attend and he gets to go twice in one season. Oh well, I'm probably getting too old for that kind of stuff anyway. I should probably take up Bingo or some other age appropriate activity.

We still have Leo, of course. I spent a significant portion of the day today installing a new "Extra Large" doggie door into the garage so that this big idiot can get in out of the weather when necessary. The old door that we installed for Dannielle was way too small. That didn't stop him from getting in through the door when he wanted, but it must have been quite a struggle for him. The drywall and framing around the old door were completely torn up from him clawing his way in. Once inside the garage he would force open the door into the house and spend the day comfortably reclining on our bed until we would come home.

Naturally, now that I spent $85 and most of my afternoon installing the new door, he is afraid of it and won't go in or out. I even crawled through it (that will give you an idea how BIG it is) to prove it was safe, but he remained unimpressed. I suppose he will eventually figure it out. Next time there's a big storm he'll probably decide that the doggie door is less frightening than the lightning.

Since living vicariously through my children is no longer an option I'm trying to find something new to keep myself entertained. Consequently, there is a "Brewer's Best Deluxe Equipment Kit" sitting in our family room awaiting my first foray into the art of home brewing. I bought the "Bold Series Imperial Blonde Ale" ingredient kit, because who doesn't like blondes and also because they didn't have an IPA kit in stock. I'm going to wait a couple weeks for the weather to cool off before actually brewing my first batch, which will give me time to empty a bunch of beer bottles so they'll be available for refilling. I will keep you all posted on the brewing progress.

In reading through the kit and the recipe I learned a new little tidbit, which I'm glad I discovered. Apparently hops are very bad for dogs, causing malignant hyperthermia (whatever that is), usually fatal. Even small amounts, including spent hops from the brewing process can cause a deadly reaction. Who knew?! Since we would probably have thrown the spent hops into our compost pile, and since Leo has on occasion taken to munching stuff in said pile, we might very well have committed involuntary dogslaughter. (I actually think Dannie was the instigator of the compost munching.) Anyway, NO BEER FOR LEO!

Which is OK. MORE BEER FOR JIM.

Procrastinating...

Still stalling, not quite ready to shut down this blog for good.

I have to go off on a little aside. Denise commented on our impending status as "empty nesters", an expression that I find more than a little distasteful. The phrase conjurs a pathetic image; otherwise perfectly functional adults, doddering aimlessly through the dreggs of lives bereft of meaning because their children have grown...come to think of it, that sounds kind of familiar.

Still, empty-nesters?! It suggests that next spring we'll be incubating a couple new eggs. I think of us more like salmon; having struggled mightily upstream, fulfilling our reproductive responsibilities, we will float, metaphorically, belly-up down the dwindling stream of life. Kind of romantic, don't you think?

Empty nester is a lousy metaphor, but I struggle to think of a better one. What other animal sends its offspring into the world, worrying that they will be back in a couple years, living in what was supposed to be the guest room?

Whatever, Jacob is apparently doing well at Humboldt, at least we haven't had any calls from their emergency services department to this point, knock wood. He has not felt the need to call home, but Denise has been able to speak to him on occasion, enough to confirm that he is attending classes and probably not studying as much as we might like.

Nick, on the other hand, is still hanging out in the general vacinity of home, at least until next week. He is entertaining his friend Bird (nickname) for a few days, getting ready to head up to UC Davis (via Las Vegas?) sometime in the near future.

Today Nick, Bird, Denise and I went to Escondido for a tour of the Stone Brewing Company. The tour was both informative and tasty, leading me to believe that I may have fatally erred in my selection of careers. Turns out that employees of the brewery are entitled to a keg per month, plus a case per month, plus an allocation of 2 litres per day on the job, plus...I'm not sure because by that time my eyes had glazed over and I couldn't hear over the chorus of heavenly hosts echoing in my ears. The tour included tasting and, because our guide offered additional tastings to anyone asking a question, I was one of the most inquisitive attendees. They had a Chipotle Smoked Porter that was really amazing. I expected a hint of chipotle peppers; Wow, this was intense. I had to buy a one litre growler to bring home.

Speaking of growlers, this has been a pretty recent phenomenom for me. Never heard of this until my previous visit to Stone, but apparently this is the hot tip with craft brewers. A growler is a large, refillable bottle of beer. Last visit I bought two 2-liter growlers, one for me and one for Nick, each filled with Ruination IPA. Today I bought a 1-liter of the Chipotle Smoked Porter. Refillable beer bottles! This is a great idea; why recycle when you can refill.

We had lunch (which was delicious) at the brewery's restaurant. I had the "Tempeh 'Fuego' Burger" which according to the menu came "hot or incredibly hot." Considering the fact that this place produces a beverage called Arrogant Bastard, a reasonable person would have taken "incredibly hot" as fair warning. I, of course, assumed that they did not know who they were fooling with, so incredibly hot I ordered and incredibly hot it was. Delicious I might add, but hot none the less. My eyes were actually tearing up, but it was entirely well worth it.

Unfortunately, Nick and Bird opted to head south and visit friends in the San Diego area following lunch, so Denise and I are, once again, empty nesters for the evening.

Sigh...belly-up is not my best side.